Shovel capable of facilitating the operation of throwing shoveled objects off

ABSTRACT

A shovel has a main handle, a blade member, a pivot base and an auxiliary handle. The blade member is mounted at an end of the main handle, the pivot base is pivoted on the main handle at where adjacent to the blade member and the auxiliary handle is pivoted on the pivot member. The main handle is rotary independently relative to the pivot base. User operates the shovel of the present invention by holding the main handle and the auxiliary handle by hands and only needs to turn the hand holding the main handle to tip the blade member for throwing the shoveled objects off.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a hand tool, and moreparticularly to a shovel, which an auxiliary handle is pivoted thereonfor facility of throwing the shoveled objected off.

2. Description of the Related Art

FIG. 6 shows a conventional shovel having a main handle 81, a blademember 82 mounted on an end of the main handle 81 and an auxiliaryhandle 83 with an end thereof mounted on the main handle 81 adjacent tothe blade member 82. The distal end of the auxiliary handle 83 is spreadfrom the main handle 81 so as to facilitate user operating the shovel byholding the main handle 81 and the auxiliary handle 83.

In shoveling operation, the hand holding the main handle 81 is lowerthan the hand holding the auxiliary handle 83 to move the shovel and topick objects up on the blade member 82. The user has to tip the blademember 82 to throw the objects off. In the throwing operation, the userhas to turn the hand holding the main handle 81 upwards and turn thehand holding the auxiliary handle 83 downwards to turn the blade memberin a prone position. That is not an easier operation, especially whileheavy objects are collected on the blade member 82. Users must have agreater power to operate aforesaid shovel and still might get amusculoskeletal injury when works for a heavy duty.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a shovel,which a pivot base is pivoted on the main handle at where adjacent tothe blade member and an auxiliary handle is provided to the pivot baseto facilitate user to operate the shovel by gripping the main handle andthe auxiliary handle. To tip the blade member, only the main handle hasto be rotated to throw the objects collected on the blade member off.

The secondary objective of the present invention is to provide a shovel.The main handle has a first grip and the auxiliary handle has a secondgrip. There is an included angle between the first grip and the secondgrip to facilitate user to hold them by both hands.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, showing the main handle, the auxiliary handle and the pivotbase;

FIG. 3 is another sectional view of the main handle, the auxiliaryhandle and the pivot base;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the first preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, showing the included angle between the first grip andthe second grip;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention showing the shovel in operation, and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the conventional shovel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIGS. from FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, a shovel of the preferredembodiment of the present invention comprises:

A main handle 1 has an inner tube 11 and an outer tube 12 fitted to eachother. At an end of the outer tube 12, where the inner tube 11 isinserted into the inner tube 12, is provided with a base 13 and at theother end of which is provided with a first handle 15. A lock device 131is pivoted on the base 13 and a spring 132 is mounted at between thelock device 131 and the base 13 to urge a distal end of the lock device131 outwardly and make a proximal end of the lock device 131 received inthe outer tube 12. The inner tube 12 has a plurality of holes 111 linedand the proximal end of the lock device 131 can rest in one of the holes111 of the inner tube 11 to secure the inner tube 11 and the outer tube12. The length of the main handle 1 is adjusted by move the inner tube11 or the outer tube 12 to make the proximal end of the lock device 131resting in various holes 111.

A blade member 2 is mounted at an end of the main handle 11, moreexactly, the blade member 2 is mounted at an end of the inner tube 11distal to the outer tube 12. The blade member 2 is provided a reinforcedplate 21, which is made of a metal material, at a front end thereof.

A pivot base 3 is pivoted on the inner tube 11 of the main handle 1 atwhere adjacent to blade member 2. The inner tube 11 has a protrusion 16on which the pivot base 3 is pivoted. The main handle 1 is rotaryrelative to the pivot base 3 to tip the blade member 2.

An auxiliary handle 4 has an end pivoted on the pivot base 3 so that theauxiliary handle 4 is rotary relative to the pivot base 3 and is spreadfrom the main handle 1 for a predetermined included angle. The base 13of the main handle 1 is provided with a clip 14 to secure the auxiliaryhandle 4. At a distal end of the auxiliary handle 4, a second grip 41 ismounted thereto. The second grip 41 is not parallel to the first grip15, which means, there is an included angle θ between the first grip 15and the second grip 41, as shown in FIG. 4, and that makes the userhaving a comfortable way to hold the first grip 15 and the second grip41 by hands.

As shown in FIG. 5, user grips the first grip 15 of the main handle 1 byone hand, such as the right hand, and grips the second grip 41 of theauxiliary handle 4 by the other hand, such as the left hand, to operatethe shovel of the present invention. Because the auxiliary handle 4 ispivoted on the pivot base 3, user can move the auxiliary handle 4 ashe/she wants to find the best posture for operation of the shovel of thepresent invention. The included angle θ between the first grip 15 andthe second grip 41 is another character of the shovel of the presentinvention that make user not having to twisting his/her hands forgripping. The designation of the shovel of the present invention meetsthe requirement of ergonomics that provides user with a comfortablestatus to operate the shovel no matter what sizes of his/her body.

Because the pivot base 3 is pivoted on the main handle 1 and theauxiliary handle 4 is pivoted on the pivot base 3, the main handle 1 canbe rotated independently relative to the pivot base 3. While tipping theobjects collected on the blade 2, user only needs to pronates the handgripping the first grip 15 of the main handle 1 to rotate the mainhandle 1 independently relative to the pivot base 3, such that the blademember 2 is tipped shown as the dot lines in FIG. 5. The operation isdone by only one hand that provides the user with an easier way to throwthe shoveled objects off.

The main handle 1 can be adjusted its length by extracting andretracting the inner tube 11 and the outer tube 12 to meet therequirement of the user.

To store the shovel of the present invention, the auxiliary handle 4 issecured by the clip 14. The size of the shovel is reduced and thatprovides a convenience for storage.

In conclusion, the present invention provides the main handle 1 forindependent rotation to make the operation of throwing the shoveledobjects off being done by rotating the main handle 1 only rather than byturning both of the main handle 1 and the auxiliary handle 4upside-down. It provides an easier way for throwing operation. Inaddition, designations of the retractable main handle 1 and the movableauxiliary handle 4 facilitates the operation of the shovel of thepresent invention.

1. A shovel, comprising: a main handle having an inner tube and an outertube fitted to each other, a base provided at an end, where the innertube is inserted, of the outer tube, a lock device pivoted on the base,a spring provided at between the lock device and the base to urge adistal end of the lock device outwardly and make a proximal end of whichreceived in the outer tube, wherein the inner tube has a plurality ofholes in which the proximal end of the lock device is rest respectivelyto adjust a length of the main handle; a blade member provided at anend, which is distal to the outer tube, of the inner tube of the mainhandle; a pivot base pivoted on the inner tube of the main handle atwhere adjacent to the blade member whereby the main handle is rotatedindependently relative to the pivot base, and an auxiliary handlepivoted on the pivot base whereby the auxiliary handle is rotatedindependently relative to the pivot base; wherein the base of the mainhandle is provided with a clip adapted to secure the auxiliary handle.2. The shovel as defined in claim 1, wherein the main handle is providedwith a first grip at an end thereof distal to the pivot base and theauxiliary handle is provided with a second grip at an end thereof distalto the pivot base, wherein there is an included angle between the firstgrip and the second grip to facilitate user gripping the first grip andthe second grip by hands.